


Unexpected Reunions

by KSheenan10



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M, Hostage Situations, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28492125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KSheenan10/pseuds/KSheenan10
Summary: Olivia never thought she'd be reunited with Elliot Stabler while dealing with a hostage situation. A hostage situation that her son got caught up in. That's not the only reunion she's about to have though.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Olivia Benson
Comments: 8
Kudos: 77





	Unexpected Reunions

**Author's Note:**

> I have recently joined the Barson bandwagon. Hi! I'm currently in mid season 18 on Hulu, however I know of certain things that happen in future seasons. Keeping fingers crossed that Raul's return as Rafael is more than just the one episode that's airing in a week. I'm also hoping that there is a scene with him and Elliot at some point in the future, with Olivia in the background rolling her eyes at both of them.   
> I hope you enjoy.   
> Follow me on twitter.   
> @KatSheenan

Ten years.  
It had been ten years since Elliot Stabler had last been in New York City. Ten years since he’d retired from the force. Ten years since he’d started therapy. Ten years since he’d last seen one Olivia Benson.   
Once upon a time he genuinely thought she’d be the one present when he took a bullet and died.   
He really hadn’t meant to go so long without talking to her. They had been stuck at the hip for 12 years after all and she was one of the most important people in his life outside of his wife and children. But the decision he and Kathy had made to leave the city as well as getting some counseling after he had shot and killed-   
He swallowed hard. He didn’t like to think about that.   
Talking to Olivia, seeing her, his therapist and he had both agreed it wouldn’t have been healthy for him, much like addicts were more likely to slip into bad habits when going back to the people they had had those habits around in the first place. And Olivia was an addiction of his. He and his therapist had agreed on that at least, even if they couldn’t agree on what Elliot’s feelings for her actually were.   
Of course it had only been meant to be temporary, the not seeing Olivia. He had only meant to stay away for a year, just enough time for his mental health to improve to withstand visiting his old job and his former coworkers. He hadn’t meant to shut her out of his life completely.   
Time goes by fast. 

It had been ten years before he and Kathy moved back to the city. The kids were grown and out of the house except for Eli.   
Still while Elliot had been planning on seeing Olivia, to explain why he’d cut off all contact, he’d never expected to run into her like this. Hadn’t expected to have a gun to his head.   
Elliot Stabler was sitting in the waiting area at the bank. He had to speak to one of the bankers about his mortgage on the small house he and Kathy had recently purchased. He couldn’t help noticing the people in the bank with him. Old habits and all. There were two tellers, one female and one male, the female in her late twenties and the man in his early forties. There was only one banker working and he was sitting in his office with a pregnant woman who was about early thirties. A heavily pregnant woman, Elliot thought to himself. He smiled slightly remembering all the times Kathy had been in the late stages of her pregnancies.   
He was just glad he could see faces again, that there had been enough people to get a vaccine that masks were considered voluntary in most places. The police officer in him had stressed about that during the entire pandemic, didn’t like not being able to make out faces on others. Kathy had laughed at him before reminding him he was no longer a cop.   
The door opened to the bank opened and a well dressed man walked in.   
Lawyer Elliot’s mind supplied. He could spot them a mile away. Something about how they carried themselves. He had never liked lawyers. Alex and Casey had been his exceptions and they had barely crossed that line. Late forties was his guess on age.   
He could hear Kathy’s voice telling him he was no longer an officer he didn’t need to know these things. Still it made him very uncomfortable not watching his surroundings and the people in them. One couldn’t be too careful. 

The man was just walking up to one of the tellers at the counter when a couple of things happened quickly, one right after the other.   
First a little boy around seven ran in through the door. Elliot was just noticing the curls on the top of his head as he was heading straight for the lawyer when two more people entered.   
It took Elliot’s brain a moment to take in that these two were masked (there had been months of everyone being masked after all) and that they held guns.   
“Everyone get down!” one of them yelled. The other one turned and locked the door.   
Elliot had only one thought running through his mind.  
Shit. 

Within a few minutes they had everyone sitting in the middle of the bank floor and had taken their cell phones.   
Elliot couldn’t help but noticed that the lawyer seemed surprised to see the child who had come running in after him but had in no way hesitated in grabbing him and pulling him close.   
He had probably thought the boy was staying behind with his mother. Elliot could remember those days when one of the girls or Dickie had changed their mind about which parent they wanted to go with after parent two had already started to walk away.   
The child was being unusually quiet and calm, but Elliot thought that may have to do with his father pulling him onto his lap and wrapping his arms around him. The boy turned and buried his head in the man’s chest and immediately fingers were being run through his curls.   
He could hear the faint whispers of Spanish being whispered, the two men with the guns seemingly content to ignore it, possibly because they also thought it was what was keeping the child quiet. 

Elliot really wished he had his gun. He also wished Olivia were here.   
The pregnant woman was sitting next to him, her eyes wide staring down at her knees, arms wrapped protectively around her stomach. The banker she had been working with, the one Elliot had been waiting to speak to, was on the other side of her, his face pale.   
Not as pale as the two tellers who were currently pulling out wads of cash for the one man holding his gun at them.  
The other was holding his gun at the people in the clump on the floor.   
Just a few more minutes Elliot thought. They would get their money and leave. They would all get out of this alive.   
He really wished he had his gun. 

He eyed the man holding his gun at them. He was covered head to toe in black clothing. Elliot would guess he was just under 6’, maybe 180 pounds. Unfortunately he couldn’t see any telling marks, such as tattoos. The man shifted and a little bit of skin showed.   
White, he was white. Elliot was barely breathing. He casually shifted so he was now looking at the other man. Perhaps an inch or two shorter and 30 pounds heavier. He was hoping he would have the same luck in making out a piece of skin when the sirens began.

Everyone froze and looked at the windows.   
“You hit the emergency button bitch,” the heavier set one, Elliot thought of him as 210, yelled at the female teller who flinched. He waved his gun at her.   
She shook her head, a few whimpers leaving her mouth.   
“Not necessarily,” Elliot found the words coming out of his mouth. Everyone looked at him. “It’s possible someone tried to get into the bank and noticed that it was locked up in the middle of the day,” he added casually. He was shaking on the inside. He however, couldn’t let this scum take his anger out on the teller. Gun or no gun he would go after him if he tried.   
“Oh yea,” 210 snarled pointing his gun at him.   
“Listen no matter how it happened you’re in control now, that gives you leverage,” Elliot tried to keep his voice calm.   
“NYPD, we have you surrounded,” came the familiar shout from outside.   
“They’re going to call in here and ask you what you want,” Elliot continued ignoring the noise from outside the bank.   
“How do you know that?” the second man asked, Elliot thought of as 180.   
“I am a retired NYPD officer. I know how they’re going to handle this,” Elliot said making sure to keep his hands in their line of sight.   
The phone rang.   
“Fine, you answer that Mr. NYPD,” 210 said. Elliot stood up slowly and went to the phone. He picked it up everyone’s eyes on him, except for the little boy who still had his head tucked away. The man holding him was watching Elliot. He had paused in his whispering to the boy. 

“Elliot Stabler,” he said.   
There was a pause and then-  
“El?”  
“Olivia?” Her name slipped from his lips in surprise. He was so taken by surprise he didn’t notice that the lawyer’s eyes had widened at the name and his arms tightened around the boy in his arms, the boy who had started to turn when he heard the name, before the man again whispered something to him in Spanish.  
His mind switched back on in a few seconds.   
“Everyone in here is fine. Both the tellers, the one banker, and the three other customers,” he said quickly. “I’m working on telling our two friends here how this is going to play out.”   
“Tell Olivia we’ll be getting back to her on what our demands are,” 180 stepped forward to take the phone out of Elliot’s hands.  
“Is there a child in there?” Olivia began to ask. Elliot didn’t have time to answer before the phone was taken.   
“We’ll be getting back to you,” the man told her before putting the phone down. 

The two men stepped together, each holding their guns on the hostages while whispering to each other. The tellers had continued to put money into the bags without being told.   
Elliot’s mind was racing wondering if he could do something while their attention wasn’t one hundred percent on them. But his eyes glanced first to the pregnant woman than to the little boy. He didn’t have his gun or handcuffs. There wasn’t really anything he could do, not without greatly risking the others. If it were just him-  
He would just have to let Olivia take care of it. His mind stopped at the thought of Olivia. This was a regular hostage situation. Why was SVU working it? 

“So Mr. Cop, what is going to happen next,” 210 snarled.   
“Well, they’re more likely to listen to your demands if you let these people go and just keep me as a hostage,” Elliot nodded his head toward the pregnant woman and the child who had finally turned his head around to look straight at Elliot.   
He was only a few years younger than Eli, the man thought to himself. The lawyer whispered something into the boy’s ear and the boy nodded. Elliot wondered briefly what he had said, both of them were staring straight at him while saying it.   
“Oh will you speak English,” 180 waved his gun at the lawyer and child.   
Elliot’s respect for the man went up slightly when he didn’t flinch, but instead looked at the man holding the gun on him a clear challenge in his eyes. He remained silent though. Elliot had a strong feeling that was to protect the boy and that if the child hadn’t been present he would have given the man a piece of his mind. Lawyers could be counted on to argue, Elliot remembered back to Alex and Casey. He forced down a grin. He would have quite like to hear what the lawyer would say to these two men. He had a feeling it would have been good.   
“Let’s remain calm here,” Elliot said keeping his voice steady. “Would you rather that the child screams?”  
The phone cut them off. One of the men waved to Elliot to answer it. 

“Olivia?” he asked.   
“Elliot,” she said. He could hear the fear in her voice. She was doing a good job of disguising it, but he had known her pretty well once.   
“I’ve been telling these gentlemen that they’re more likely to get their demands if they release some of the hostages,” he said keeping his eyes on both the men.   
“Are they ready to talk to me?” she asked. Elliot turned to look at the two men who were watching him intently.   
“She wants to talk to you,” Elliot informed them preparing to hand the phone over. Olivia’s voice had him putting it back up to his ear.   
“Wait. Is there a child in there? 7 years old?” she asked.   
“Yes. He’s fine. He’s with his father,” Elliot replied. 

That’s when one of the men pulled the phone from his hands. He could vaguely hear Olivia start to say something else, but he couldn’t make out what it was.   
180 hit a button and then he could hear Olivia breathing on the other end. The phone had been put on speaker.  
“Hello Olivia,” he said, even as 210 turned to gesture to the tellers to give him the bag they had been filling and to join the others. He held his gun on all of them.   
“You’re going to listen to our demands so your friend here will make it out in one piece.”  
“Of course, but listen if anyone gets hurt, then you will get nothing,” she said firmly, but calmly. Elliot was hit with a wave of nostalgia. He had missed her. “I don’t think it will get to that though,” she added. Anyone else would have thought she was fully confident in what she was saying. Elliot however knew that she was shaking on the inside. She hated hostage negotiations.   
The men looked at each other. “As long as everyone does as they’re told, no one will get hurt.”   
There was a second of silence. “What is it that you want?”  
“Ten million dollars and a car. No tricks though,” the 210 said from where he was standing his gun pointing at Elliot.   
“Of course not,” Olivia said drily. “But before my superiors will do that, I need assurances that everyone in there is alright,” she said.   
The man held the phone up towards Elliot. “Everyone’s fine Liv.”   
“That’s not enough. You could be holding a gun on him to make him say that,” Olivia said. Elliot’s heart was pounding fast. She was off script. Why?  
“Fine, everybody, say hi to the nice cop lady,” one of the men snarled.   
The banker, two tellers and the pregnant woman all muttered that they were alive. Elliot looked at the lawyer who had been quiet. Then he let out a stream of Spanish towards the phone. 

Elliot’s breath caught. He knew that this man was a lawyer. He could pick them out anywhere. Which meant he had to know English. Yet, he chose to respond to Olivia in Spanish, almost as if he knew she would understand him.   
“I don’t think the lady knows Spanish,” one of the men said to him. The lawyer looked at him, defiance in his eyes, arms tightening around the boy.   
“Yes I do actually.”  
Was it Elliot’s imagination or did she sound shaken. What had the lawyer told her?   
“Listen I told my superiors your demands. We’re going to need some show of faith first, to get you what you want. They’re asking that you send those nice people out, unharmed.”   
“Yea if you want us to release anybody, we want you to come in here, unarmed,” 180 snarled into the phone hitting the button to take it off of speaker.   
Elliot turned his head quickly. They wanted Olivia to come in?   
“You’re not getting all of them either,” the other man said pulling the phone away from his friend. “Just some of them.”   
There was a few seconds of silence and the heavier set man slammed down the phone.   
“You, you, you and you,” he waved his gun at the banker, the two tellers and the pregnant woman. “Congratulations you get to leave.”   
“The child?” Elliot said, gesturing to the boy.   
“He gets to stay with us and daddy,” the skinnier man snarled at Elliot. “We want you and Olivia on best behavior don’t we?” 

Olivia put down the phone, Fin’s eyes on her. Her hands trembled as she made to put on her vest. First Elliot and then-  
“Listen you need to contact the DA’s office. There was a case they had about five years ago. It’s connected to our suspects,” she said.  
“Liv?”  
Olivia looked up. “Elliot’s not the only one in there-“  
“Yea I know, Noah-“  
Olivia cut him off. “Rafael Barba is in there.”   
Fin stared at her. “I made them let the hostages tell me they’re okay. The last hostage spoke to me in Spanish. Rafael. He has Noah with him, he’s fine. But he also recognizes the voices of our perps. He couldn’t tell me their names, even in Spanish they would have figured that out. But he gave me some quick info about the case so we can identify them.” She filled him in quickly on what Rafael had managed to tell her before handing him her gun. 

At least now Olivia had an idea of what had prompted Noah to run away from her. He must have seen Rafael and wanted to catch him. They had gone over and over not leaving her or whoever was with him, but he had missed the lawyer. Olivia briefly closed her eyes. She had missed him too. She reopened them. So far both Rafael and Elliot had kept her son safe. Of course Elliot didn’t know who Noah was, but she knew he wouldn’t let a child get hurt if he could help it.   
“Go get them Liv,” Fin muttered as several people with their hands up walked out of the bank. Her heart sank when she saw neither Noah nor Rafael.  
She entered into the bank slowly, her hands above her head, blinking as spots hindered her vision for a brief moment. 

“Well hello Olivia,” the voice made her cringe. She looked at the two men, her vision coming back. Not that it helped they were covered head to toe. They both held guns on her. She let her eyes flicker away trying to see the others.   
Elliot was sitting in the middle of the floor, rather uncharacteristically she thought. In a past life he would have already attacked the men by now. Her eyes moved away and she had to force herself not to react even as her breath left her. 

Rafael Barba stared up at her, his arms tight around her son. It had been too long since she had seen him in person.   
Rafael hadn’t told her he was back in New York the last time they’d skyped. And she was fully prepared to lay into him for that, but first she had to focus on getting him and her son and her old partner out alive.   
“I’m here,” she said holding her hands up. “My superiors are working on getting you your money and car,” she said.   
“No tricks.”  
“None,” she said, her eyes darting all around the bank.   
“Hey Olivia,” she glanced at Elliot. He looked older. She almost laughed. She did too of course. Still it was strange noticing all the little differences about her old partner.   
“Hey El,” she said softly even as she could feel other eyes on her.   
She glanced back at the two. Noah was looking at her calmly, with such trust on his face. Rafael had a mixture of emotions on his as his eyes followed her. 

Noah snuggled deeper into Uncle Rafa’s lap. He hadn’t meant to run away, but he had to talk to the man. Mommy had been sad when he left. He had heard her crying in her room at night. He had to tell Rafa that he had to stay so Mommy would be happy again. But then the men had come in with the guns before he could say anything.   
Mommy was here now and she was looking at the other man, the one who used to be a police officer even as she spoke to the bad men.   
His mommy had been teaching him Spanish so he knew most of what Rafa had whispered to him. Stuff about how he was going to keep him safe and then once Mommy had been on the phone, how she was going to make everything better. He was sorry that he had left them and had enjoyed skyping with them. Noah liked those times too. His mommy had seemed a bit happier when they spoke to him. He also told Noah not to say or do anything. He was okay with that. After all Rafa would protect him until Mommy could arrest the bad guys.   
Mommy was looking at Rafa now as the two men started arguing and then her eyes flickered over to the cop.   
Rafa reached his hand down and turned Noah’s head into his chest. Then there was some noise and he could hear other police officers entering the building. He turned slowly to look, feeling Rafa’s hand move back to his back. Some police officers he didn’t know were taking the bad guys and their guns away. The man who had spoken to mommy was wiping some blood away from his nose. Auntie Amanda was looking at him and Uncle Rafa a soft smile on her face and Uncle Fin was talking to the man, the one called Elliot. Then mommy was looking at him and Uncle Rafa once again. 

Rafael slowly stood up, not taking his eyes away from Olivia who had turned away from Elliot and was staring straight at him. Elliot noticed and turned to look all three of them. Fin fell silent.   
Elliot’s eyes fell to Noah and he smiled gently. “I think we can take you to Mommy now,” he said. Noah pulled out of Rafael’s grasp.  
“Mommy,” he screamed as he threw himself at Olivia who knelt down and gripped him tight in her arms.   
“You’re such a brave boy, Noah,” she said as she began kissing him.   
“Wait,” Elliot had a look of confusion on his face as he looked down at Olivia and then back at Rafael. Olivia pulled away slightly and looked up at her old partner.   
“This is Noah, my son,” she said not moving away from him. “You did such a good job my love,” she focused her attention back at her son. 

“So back in town then Barba?” Fin broke the silence. Rafael pulled his eyes away from the mother son reunion and looked at the police officer.   
“I am,” he said quietly. Fin nodded his head.   
“You have a son?” Elliot said, looking around at Fin as if to look for confirmation. Olivia laughed and straightened up.   
“Why do you think SVU took this case?” she asked him. “I knew my son was in here with them,” she nodded over her shoulder where the two men had been taken out.  
Elliot nodded his head slowly he could see Olivia bullying her way into taking the hostage situation to protect her son. He had always thought she’d be a good mother.   
“She adopted me when I was a baby,” Noah informed the man, “That means my other parents couldn’t take care of me.” Elliot’s eyes flickered over to Rafael who was still standing quietly.   
“I’m sorry I ran away Mommy, but I had to see Uncle Rafa,” Noah said looking up at his mother. “Then the bad men came in so I couldn’t tell him how sad you were when he left.” 

Rafael caught Olivia’s gaze. “Hey Livia,” he said shifting on his feet. Olivia let go of Noah and then she was hugging Rafael so tightly that she nearly knocked both of them over.   
“Don’t do that ever again,” she said pulling back to look at his face.   
“Leave New York or get caught in a hostage situation?” he asked her a grin forming on his face. His hands were still on her waist, hers resting on his chest as if she could keep him with her just by holding on to his shirt.   
“Both,” she said before going back to squeezing him. He found he didn’t really care that he was having trouble breathing.   
He heard Elliot say something to Fin who laughed. “Rafael Barba our former ADA who left two years ago. He and Liv are pretty tight,” he said a bit louder.   
“And me,” Noah piped up.   
“And Noah,” Fin agreed. 

“Really Liv, a lawyer?” Elliot asked. Olivia loosened her grip on Rafael turning to shoot Elliot a dirty look.   
“Ten years Elliot.” She shot back.  
“I missed you,” Rafael said softly. She turned back and then her lips were on his.   
“About time,” Amanda said when they finally broke apart. She was grinning at the two of them. Noah was holding her hand and grinning bigger than she was.   
“No, but really? A lawyer?” Elliot repeated.   
“A lawyer who was able to recognize the voices and tell me who our perps are,” Olivia said turning and slipping her hand into Rafael’s. “A lawyer who when he left still remained in touch.”

Fin covered a snort.   
“I’m not going to hear the end of that am I?”  
“Knowing her I doubt it,” Rafael commented, a small grin on his face. He kept glancing at Olivia his eyes going soft with every look.   
“Good luck man,” Fin said slapping on Elliot on the shoulder before turning to leave.   
“I don’t know I feel like we should be wishing Barba luck,” Amanda commented. Fin stopped in his tracks his shoulders shaking. His laughter was audible to everyone else in the room. 

Noah stepped away from Amanda and went to take Rafael’s hand smiling up at him.  
“Listen let’s go take everyone’s statement outside so we can all go home,” Amanda said. Olivia looked at her. She shrugged. “I may also owe Carisi some money,” she gestured to where Rafael was still holding Olivia and Noah’s hand. “How he always knows these things I don’t understand,” she said sighing and turning to go outside. “Barba wasn’t even in the city,” she was saying as she went out the door. Fin was frowning at Amanda’s back.   
The others followed her. 

“Liv,” Elliot said. She stopped as did the lawyer and Noah. Rafael looked at them and picked Noah up and over to where the police officers were waiting for statements.   
“I’m sorry I didn’t contact you,” he said. “I-“  
Olivia shook her head. “Kathy told me,” she said. Elliot looked at her. “She knew it was killing you and felt I was owed an explanation.”  
Elliot shook his head. “I still should have contacted you at some point.”  
“Well we’re talking now,” Olivia said softly. Elliot let out a half smile.   
“We are,” he agreed. There was a few seconds of silence. “Is he a good man?” Elliot nodded his head toward Rafael Barba who was holding Noah’s hand as he talked to a police officer.   
Olivia’s face softened as she looked at them. “Drives me crazy,” she said with a laugh. “Then again the first time I met his mother she said that I drove him crazy. But yes, he’s one of the best.”  
Elliot sighed. “Then I guess I’ll have to give him a chance. Even if he is a lawyer.”   
“Good, because I’m not letting either one of you leave me again,” she said firmly.


End file.
